This invention relates generally to windrow cultivators, and particularly to a cultivator adapted to move along a windrow of material such as compost for circulating material between the inside and outside of the windrow to keep the material uniformly exposed to air for rapid humus-producing, aerobic action.
A prior art machine called the "Cobey Composter" manufactured by a company of that name in Galvin, Ohio has a drum with short, hardened teeth described in the company's advertising as "turning at tremendous speeds, picks up the wastes on its hardened teeth and casts the material back of the machine as the Composter travels one length of the windrow. Also, those fast-moving hardened teeth tend to shed and break up the material."
Another machine called the "SCARAB", sold by Scarab Manufacturing and Leasing Incorporated, White Deer, Tex., uses some of the principles of a hammer mill. The company's advertising states it "flails, aerates, and fluffs the waste, throwing it into pressure free windrows of proper height to avoid anerobic cores."
Another machine, called the "BROWN BEAR", made by Roscoe Brown Corporation, Lenox, Iowa, is basically just a massive auger rotating up to 180 RPM which shifts a compost pile sidewise. The company's advertising states "its reverse rotation works the windrow from the bottom up and to the side. The material doesn't pass under the machine."
Another machine, called the "Model 74-51 Composter" is made by TEREX division of General Motors, Hudson, Ohio. It has an array of seventeen huge paddles, each ten feet long and eight inches wide which are mounted on an endless chain and move upward in a continuous manner as the machine moves into the waste pile. The company's advertising states "The paddle action lifts the material and casts it in windrows to the right." It is a massive machine, weighing 53,000 pounds.
The above-described prior art machines require heavy, powerful engines. Further, the high speed fluffing and milling and shredding actions employed in them are inefficient users of energy. Applicant has developed and manufactured a compost cultivator with a drum having a helical array of cutter blades which gently but effectively comminute and circulate compostable material from the inside to the outside of a windrow with relatively small power requirements as contrasted with the prior art machines described. The disintegrator and aerator used in a prior, less efficient machine made by applicant is shown in FIG. 4.
A search of the prior art uncovered the following U.S. patents: Nos. 3,362,092; 3,369,797; 3,606,265; 3,664,645; 3,733,033; and 4,019,723.